Gautam Gambhir Reveals Senior Players Told Him To Win 2011 World Cup To Take 'Conversation Away From 1983'

Gautam Gambhir, a former Indian cricketer, described a conversation he had with senior players during the 2011 ODI World Cup semifinal, claiming two or three of them urged him to win the match so they could “take the conversation away from 1983.”

Referring to the contributions of the Kapil Dev-led squad, Gambhir continued by saying that he wanted to exalt India and make people happy rather than “end anyone.”

Gautam Gambhir Shares Interesting Story On 2011 World Cup

In 1983, India won the World Cup for the first time after overcoming the powerful West Indies at Lord’s in the championship game.

“Two or three senior players came to me and said ‘we need to win this tournament because we have to take the conversation away from 1983. We have to finish their thing off’,” Gambhir shared while revealing senior player’s remarks on Indian Express’s Idea Exchange.

Gambhir added: “I said I haven’t come here to finish anyone. I haven’t come here to shorten someone’s line. I want to win this to extend our line. If the media is giving them jobs from 1983 to 2011, that’s the media’s problem, not ours.

“We need to win the World Cup because we want this country to be happy. That is something which needs to change in the future,” the former India cricketer said.

India advanced toward winning their second-ever World Cup trophy in ODIs with a 29-run victory against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup semi-final in Mohali.

In the final versus Sri Lanka at Wankhede, Gambhir played a significant part during India’s 275-run chase India’s opening pair of Virender Sehwag for a duck and Sachin Tendulkar for a cheap 18 put them in danger. By establishing a key 83-run partnership for the third wicket with Virat Kohli, Gambhir served as the India innings’ fulcrum.

Then Gambhir and MS Dhoni teamed together to keep India’s chances alive.

Despite being removed for 97, Gambhir had laid the groundwork for Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh to complete the task. In the last over, Dhoni hit a maximum against Nuwan Kulasekara to give India a 6-wicket victory and a second ODI World Cup triumph.

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